Hex-editing: Adding a Civilization?

Captain Nemo · January 9, 2000, 07:45

Is anyone familiar with hex-editing an .scn or .sav file? I am trying to add a 5th civ to a game that only was set up with 4.

Captain Nemo · January 22, 2000, 17:50

I received no answers to my question here so I assume it means nobody knows... Well, I now have resolved it... and it might be useful to others.
If you have a saved scenario or game and want to add more Civs to it (To avoid having to start a setup from scratch) you CAN DO IT!

Here is how:
Use a Hex editor to open the .sav file. Set the editor to display the Hexcode in lines of 16 2-byte words. The active Civs in play are identified by the 15th word of the third line.

For example:
FF=11111111 means all Civs + Barbarians in play
F0=11110000 means Civs 1-4 in play, no barbarians
0F=00001111 means Civs 5-7 + Barbarians in play
7A=01111010 means Civs 2-5 + 7 in play, no barbarians
etc...
It works, I tested it!

For beginners at this, the hexcodes are:
0=0000
1=0001
2=0010
3=0011
4=0100
5=0101
6=0110
7=0111
8=1000
9=1001
A=1010
B=1011
C=1100
D=1101
E=1110
F=1111
Please feel free to E-mail me (Address in my profile) with any questions.

Allard HS · January 22, 2000, 18:37

Very interesting...

What about adding an 8th civ? Just adding another 1? That's what Harlan is after. But I guess it isn't possible.

Are there more things that are hex-editable? The start values like flat/round world, barbarian activity etc. must also all be somewhere there.

Captain Nemo · January 23, 2000, 17:38

Yes, everything is in there... It's just tricky to find it because there is so much data and it's almost all Hex-codes.
What I did is started the absolutely simplest game: 3 players, no restart and saved it then entered the cheatmode and destroyed one of the three civs and saved it again.
By comparing the hexcodes word by word, I came across something that had changed which told me the location of the No. of civs settings. I also did a bit of editing of cities (Removed/added coastal flags etc...)using Andrew Living's tips on Hex-editing... He had figured out all the codes for the cities but not the Civs in play.
There is no way to add an 8th civ since the 8th bit is the barbarian bit.

Michael Daumen · January 24, 2000, 09:51

What sort of editor is necessary to fiddle with this stuff?

Captain Nemo · January 24, 2000, 16:41

I downloaded the Hex-Editor "HEdit" that Andrew Livings suggested. I don't know the address but it's on his site under utilities.
There is also a full explanation on how to edit all the city codes. And it's very straight forward.

Civfan · January 24, 2000, 22:59

Andrew Livings site?

Captain Nemo · January 27, 2000, 17:32

Yes, Andrew's site: http://members.xoom.com/HistCiv2/index2.htm
In the Help section under city editing there is a nice write up on how to do this for a city (Change ownership, change size, location, coastal/non-coastal etc...) and a recommended Hex-Editor and where to get it.

BTW I reversed the order of the Civs above: It's really 7,6,5,4,3,2,1,Barbarians. So, for example 11110000 means Civs 7-4 in play, no barbarians.

Gothmog tried the tip and figured out that I had them reversed. Thanks.